Observer » BD HOTELS

Lower East Side Finally Getting a Half Decent Boutique Hotel

Matt Chaban — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:09:55 -0400

They'll leave the light on for you. (EV Grieve)

Incredibly gentrified as it has become, the Lower East Side is still lacking that hallmark of neighborhood development: a decent boutique hotel. Sure, The Hotel on Rivington was one of the firm mega-towers to mar the tenenment-scale neighbhorhood's skyline, but The Observer has always found that place to be pretty meh, and only getting worse. The Thompson has not been much better.

Now, one of the most stalled structures in the city, 180 Ludlow—it's been an empty shell for years, something straight out of bombed out Beirut—has found a buyer, and it is the very reputable gang at BD Hotels, Curbed reports.

BD, this generation's Andre Balazs—or are they Ian Schrager—are responsible for such hits the Maritime, Greenwich and Jane hotels, as well as the nearby Bowery, which has been giving the neighbors in the East Village boutique bragging rights for a couple of years now. The bloggers over at EV Grieve spotted the lights back on in the building just the other night, so it looks like these guys are back to work already. Which is good timing, considering the insatiable thirst for hotels in the city these days.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

You Takin’ A Picture of Me? Shutterbugs Snubbed At Robert De Niro’s New Hotel

Chris Shott — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:44:48 -0400

Celebrity hotelier Robert De Niro's hugely anticipated and high-priced lodge, the 88-room Greenwich Hotel, officially opens for business today in Tribeca.

And talk about excellence in hospitality!

A Curbed tipster reports from the scene:

there are three staffers outside the hotel, guarding against photographs. OF THE EXTERIOR. I managed to get a few shots, and one through the glass of the lobby, before a nice Asian lady nearly popped a blood vessel and grabbed at my camera. Bobby D, you've done it again, sir.

Nation's 'Weirdest Tackle Shop' Resurfaces Near Macy's

Chris Shott — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:52:15 -0400

The first retail casualty of the embattled Chelsea Hotel's 2007 managerial coup d'etat has reopened on West 36th Street, near Macy's, according to British newspaper The Independent [via Living With Legends]:

For 44 years, Capitol Fishing Tackle lived next to the notorious Chelsea Hotel....

'Field and Stream' called Capitol "the weirdest tackle shop in America", with some justification. Only some of its clients, you see, were fishers. So the staff might sell a length of rope to a 6ft leather-clad woman more interested in tying her customers than a half-blood knot, or a tattooed weirdo who thought barbed gold hooks would look really neat stuck through his nose.

In addition to the weirdos, various presidents were rumored to be patrons of the place, as was the Sultan of Brunei -- whom the author described as a "keen saltwater angler," who "brought along his Uzi-toting bodyguards and closed the shop while he wandered its higgledy rows."

A guitar shop, an acupuncturist, a tattoo parlor, and the longstanding El Quiote restaurant still remain on the ground level of the hallowed West 23rd Street hotel.

But for how long?

Hotelier Predicts 'A Lot of Pain' From Room Boom

Chris Shott — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:11:58 -0400

Today's New York Sun examines the potential side-effects of the city's ongoing hotel boom.

Between 13,000 to 18,000 new and renovated rooms are expected in the coming years, which sounds great for consumers but some proprietors aren't so stoked.

Hotelier Richard Born, who is quoted at length, foresees a lot of doom and gloom with the boom, declaring, "There will be a lot of pain."

"I predict that with a rapid rise in inventory that will result in perhaps even a subtle change in occupancy, we will see an enormous plunge in room rates," he said. "Our rates have risen 100% over the past four years. I would not be surprised if we return to 2003 average daily rate levels. This will translate to a potential 50% decrease in projected gross revenues and a near total wipeout of operating profits."

Chelsea Hotel Manager Quits MySpace

Chris Shott — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:33:51 -0400

So much for the Chelsea Hotel's resident "eurotrash beachbum."

Glennon Travis, the new director of operations for the embattled bohemian enclave, whom The Observer profiled last week, has scrapped his revealing MySpace page following the article's publication.

Nevermind that part about "[d]espite the teasing, Mr. Travis has yet to remove or even alter his MySpace presence."

Yet the new guy continues to provide more juicy gossip for writer Ed Hamilton's blog about hotel life, Living With Legends.

Mr. Hamilton further reports that Mr. Travis is engaged to be married: "Congratulations Glennon!"

Stanley Bard Ousted From History

Chris Shott — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:08:47 -0400

The new managers of the historic Chelsea Hotel have launched a revamped Web site for reservations and information about the iconic lodge on West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

The "History" section drops the usual references to famous hotel inhabitants Dylan Thomas and Sid Vicious but makes no mention of the old manager, Stanley Bard, whose ouster after nearly 50 years stirred up so much controversy this year.

"It’s hard to deny that, besides being one of the chief celebrities of the hotel, he had a little bit to do with making this place the unique artistic attraction that it is today," writer and hotel watchdog Ed Hamilton said on his blog, Living With Legends.

Mr. Bard used to say that getting into the Chelsea was harder than getting into an Ivy League school. Now you can check-in with the simple click of a mouse.

Quoteth hotel frequenter Bob Dylan: "The times they are a-changin.'"